Retro Video Game Collecting as an Investment?

[esadajr]

same here, I "collect" to play. When getting an interesting system like the PCE I transport back to the early 90s, at that moment,  I just know what it feels like to discover a system like that. The investment is in fun.

[Gladiator316]

long story short........

Let me know what you all think :-)

To be honest I'd have to break this down in full to address some statements you made if I want to adress everything, but I wont, so here is the basic reply:

1. If you keep running into a younger generation that is constantly hanging out at the retro store, but just so happens to be individuals whom are not actually into playing retro games, then what you have probably run into are actually hipsters or posers, not real gamers. There is a difference, and this has been addressed here before multiple times. If this really concerns you, try checking the age of people on the Neo forums, Sega-16, and other sites. You will find there are actually quite a few teenagers on each of these forums.

2. In my own experience, my son and daughter both love playing the older stuff too now and then, and my son keeps a Snes and N64 in his room with all his other game systems. In fact, a couple weeks ago my son came in here and beat Splatterhouse for Pce on his 2nd try and had a blast doing it. Also, a two year old child's lack of want for 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit games should not even be considered or factored into to any conversation like this. The two year old cant read or write, let alone carry on a coherent conversation. Would you let your two year old pick out your dinner? No. Would you let them pick out a movie to watch on movie nite with the wife? No.

Two year old kids have no reference level, so you cant even begin to base the future outcome or demand of classic gaming on a kid that young. They are not even remotely old enough to form educated or responsible opinions or develop personal taste or preferences yet. If you need that put into perspective a tad better, here watch this video:

Now, after you are done watching it, swap the cat for the 2 year old. Get the point? Stop worrying about a 2 year old reaction to old games. For that matter, stop worrying about what is going to happen 20-30 years from now with these games. Odds are you will be dead, or too old to care by then anyway. Enjoy the here and now, that is what matters.

I understand..I'm not really going off what my 2 year old niece is doing..I just used that as a funny example. Relax.
 The Retro game store has a lot of current gen games too. I even asked the owner Mike what sells the most, he even told me that ps2 and up...barely the retro stuff moves., especially atari and turbo.

All kids hit that age of wanting the newer, better things...I know I did...I sold a lot of my old gaming stuff to get the new gen..and I know i'm not the only one..

I'm not too worried bout it...just wanted to know others opinions on the whole collecting concept. Just some thought provoking material. :-)

[ProfessorProfessorson]

To be honest, this type of conversation has come up often around here, for years on end, from resellers on down. It comes up on most game forums in general probably far too often. Its a tired subject, and if you bothered to browse around some around here you'd see that. People around here play their games and enjoy them. We don't play the investment game, and no one around here really cares about what is going to happen 80 thousand years from now concerning the games WE love. What matters is the here and now, the fun we can have with the stuff we enjoy playing. That is all that matters. Looking around and worrying about what everyone else younger then you is playing is a waste of time and it will make you lose perspective.

[lukester]

That video was great, Prof! Good points too.

[tggodfrey]

Play them or not, I think its a combination of things.  We start out going after memories of our childhood, followed by the interest of things we didnt have but wanted.  Next thing you know your buying anything that looks interesting and before you know it the challenge of all of them sets in.  It doesnt end with video games.......

I am currently collecting engines.  Working on the second build, when I finish I know very well I will start another or start looking for another antique to restore like the one I have just so that I can build a different color or different trim model.  its difficult to resist temptation.

[turboswimbz]

no

[Gladiator316]

no

best answer yet turboswimbz

[Johnny Turbo]

Yeah i only collect for myself. I highly doubt that in 10 years when i have a son that he will ever be interested in 30+ year old gaming tech. The first console i had as a kid was a sega saturn, yet i love retro gaming. I am an oddball in that regard. Hell I'm only 20 and my record/ laserdisc collection takes up almost an entire room in my house. 

[Nec.Game.head]

I truly collect all these old retro consoles plain and simple because I enjoy the blast from the past that it brings me from my early 90's childhood .. In the past year I have yet again got caught up collecting more and more random retro gaming stuff because of the 20 year gap I clearly see now .. I keep telling my girl don't worry about my spending it's all for a good reason and one day will be worth more .. I know it's total bullshit but I keep telling myself that because it's the only way that I can justify my growing obsession with buying all this old school stuff .. What really gets me pumped now in days is sharing this stuff with all my young gamer friends and family that vary from the age of 6 to 24 .. Their hyped on it as much as I am .. My apartment is completely set up for gaming and that's how I like it .. Skateboarding, retro gaming, great home cooked dinners and sharing it with my close friends and family is were it's at for me .. Were all different people here but all post here for the same reason we truly love this old school retro gaming life that we all have in common ..



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[Corredor X]

The only future investment I see in my collection is the games I'll be playing in the years to come: the ones I always loved, the ones I couldn't have as a kid and the fascinating ones I'm only discovering now. That's payment enough, buying them already thinking of selling in the future is a little sad, actually. Having them in the shelves is half the fun.

[geise]

Having them in my game system is double the fun.  I do collect what I play.  I don't want loose games.  I want it how it would be if I bought it in a store new.  Now with the whole investment thing, I just had a meeting with my Fidelity investor.  After I just decided to take it all out, pay the tax on it, and put it into ebay buying.  It's a win win.  Even if it's a gouged price I can still make bank by selling it at a premium down the road.

[-D-]

I don't view my game collection as an investment, but I do have to say that when it comes time to buy a game I've really wanted for a long time and it's over $100 in value it sure is easier to confidently buy it than buy a new release $60 game that you know for a fact will only cost $20 within a year or two.  But yeah, I buy games to play them. 

And I have a 4 year old son that tends to have more fun with retro games than on modern games; and I don't know if that will stick as he gets older, but I can't help but think that over the decades as the 16-bit generation folks start dying off, there will be younger people to take their place in terms of interest in retro gaming.  As some of these kids today get older, their passion for video games might stay strong and then when they find themselves in stable careers and financial situations they may end up collecting games from before their time.

I actually think the price hikes in the past few years are only a small taste of what's going to come over the next 20 - 30 years in the retro game market.  I think eventually we'll see a lot of Neo-Geo AES type prices on a whole staple of the more rare games for almost every platform.

[glazball]

  D, I agree except it seems like we're already there though of course the Neo will always be the champ of wtfareyouthinking prices.  Most rare games on any given system have already gotten to wtf pricing.  But yes, it will get worse and worse as the years fly by like they love to do.

[-D-]

I'd like to believe you're right because I want our beloved 8/16-bit games to live forever, but I'm not sure whether I agree or not. There aren't a lot of games that were before my time, but even going back to the earliest gaming memories I have... there's less of a draw for me to revisit Pong on the Atari 2600 than there is for games and systems that came a bit later in my childhood, like the NES & TG16.  I'm wondering if the draw to 8/16-bit games is due to the quality of the memories associated with them, or if gameplay/technology just matured to a universally palatable state starting around the time of the NES/SMS.

As a kid that mostly just had Atari until I was almost 10 years old; I do think this is the case.  When I go back to pre-NES games it's just for a small touch of nostalgia, but I bore of those games so quickly.  But I can still play a ton of 8-bit games on NES & SMS and have a great time.  My son's preferences seem to echo it as well, he quickly gets bored of Atari games, but can play NES games for much longer stretches of time. 

[esteban]

Q: Investment?
A: I invest my time in playing games.